Local Housing Market Stronger Than U.S. Sales

Pueblo’s housing market does not experience sharp ups and downs

RISMEDIA, December 14, 2006?(MCT)?The housing market nationally may be in the doldrums, but local housing sales remain level, according to Greg Hahn, co-owner and co-founder of RE/MAX of Pueblo.

“We’re in a very strong market compared to what the rest of the country is seeing right now,” Hahn said in a recent interview.

He cites the number of building permits, coupled with the number of house listings this year, as good indicators of 2006 being in line with the housing markets of the past couple of years.

Hahn said it’s important for homeowners and investors to realize that the Pueblo market does not suffer the extreme ups and downs of some areas, such as the Colorado Springs market.

“Pueblo has much milder fluctuations and also is a more consistent and steady market” than the Colorado Springs’ market, he said. “We don’t have that much out-migration and in-migration (of residents) so that bodes well to home buyers.

Colorado Division of Housing officials say that Pueblo home values generally increase three percent a year.

Hahn, who has been a co-owner of the local Re/Max franchise for 26 years, says some years have brought double-digit appreciation, including 2001-02 and the early 1990s.

Conversely, he says home values have not experienced double-digit depreciation here, even in the 1980s when massive layoffs made for a 19-percent jobless rate.

More recently, 670 houses sold in the third quarter of 2005, compared to 625 in this year’s third-quarter?a 7% decrease.

Hahn acknowledges that house sales are being boosted by a variety of incentives, including short-term, low-interest rates and free appliances.

Statewide, the Colorado Association of Realtors reports that home prices dropped 0.7% in this year’s third quarter and sales dropped by 17.2%, Nationwide, many homeowners have suffered huge losses in plummeting markets.

One local statistic that doesn’t bode well is the lower number of days that houses have been on the market in this year versus 2005.

Hahn said he thinks Pueblo’s high foreclosure rate is making for quicker home sales and a smaller figure in the “days on market” category. Pueblo’s foreclosure rate is slightly lower than Colorado’s rate, which has topped the nation for two consecutive quarters in 2006.

Hahn said he realizes people are worried about the foreclosure rate. He notes that while the rate is high, still it reflects less than 10% of the market.

Still, he said, he’s hopeful for the cleanup of the Colorado mortgage industry and a lower foreclosure rate.

Sources: Greg Hahn of Re/Max of Pueblo, Pueblo, Pueblo Association of Realtors.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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